Today, communications devices, such as paging devices undergo testing to determine whether they conform to the particular communication protocol. In the case of paging systems, there are three typically used protocols referred to as FLEX.TM., ReFLEX50.TM. and ReFLEX25.TM. protocols. In the prior art, protocol conformance testing is performed by one-way paging systems, and thus, only one-way devices (i.e., devices only capable of receiving paging messages, not transmitting paging messages) are tested. In the prior art, the testing is performed by a protocol encoder, which acts as a signal generator to simulate a one-way paging protocol by encoding a single outbound channel for the one-way paging device. The paging device is connected to the encoder to undergo testing. During testing, the one-way paging device could be tested for compliance to the protocol through a series of messaging scenarios.
However, newer protocols allow for two-way paging. In two-way paging, the paging network transmits and receives simultaneously, and the paging device must be tested for both receiving and transmitting. Therefore, the encoders used for testing one-way paging devices are not sufficient. Furthermore, the testing of two-way paging devices is more complicated because the protocols typically include acknowledgment or message receipt transmission, as well as message origination from the paging device. Also, the two-way paging protocols often support use of multiple channels. That is, the paging device can be made to switch communication frequencies. Each feature of the protocols for two-way paging is tested, and since paging devices receive on multiple frequencies, the tester must transmit on multiple frequencies. Therefore, a new testing system is needed to handle testing of two-way paging devices. The present invention provides such a testing system.